Mistakes I made in my 20s as a Software Developer.
Mistakes I made in my 20s as a Software Developer...
— Ankur💻🎧💪 (@TheAnkurTyagi) June 7, 2021
A Thread... pic.twitter.com/wulqhBuLbE
It’s OK to make mistakes. Yes, even when it comes to your career.
Career mistakes in your 20s aren’t the end of the world.
Not that I'm encouraging you to make career mistakes but just know, if you do, you can hopefully bounce back stronger than ever...
Being a young professional can be exciting.
There’s no easy way to condition yourself as a perfect professional, nor is there a shortcut to a perfect career path.
"Learning from your mistakes does not happen automatically—it requires thinking and reflection."
1- Failing to network early.
Networking is a major key to success in the business world in part because connections are how to learn more about yourself & your skills,
And in part, because it will give you more potential career paths when it comes time to look for a new position.
College juniors and seniors can leverage the power of their universities by connecting with their alumni network and professors.
New professionals can start attending networking events and meeting new people as often as possible.
The sooner you start, the better it will be.
2. Blame People For My Unhappiness.
As a child, you’re taken care of by others.
That may be your parents, siblings, family members, foster parents, or any other person who takes responsibility.
Hence, you assume that someone is responsible for you.
But that’s not true.
When you grow up, You are responsible for yourself.
So never look at others when you’re unhappy—it’s not fair to the people in your life.
Instead, accept your unhappiness, and then do something about it.
3. Not asking questions
As a new hire, I was nervous about asking questions for fear of sounding stupid.
I was afraid to ask questions that would expose my programming ignorance, and this greatly impeded my growth as a developer.
Once I built a strong rapport with my team members, I began asking more questions.
Every developer starts from zero,
and while we all learn at different speeds,
We all have to go through the same process.
"It is vital to ask questions if you don’t understand."
4. Taking constructive criticism personally
"Constructive criticism is important to grow as a developer."
When someone gives me constructive criticism, my first instinct is to interpret this as a reflection of my personal identity; it feels as though they’re attacking who I am.
Next time when someone gives you a piece of constructive criticism that you don’t believe is true, don’t immediately get defensive and shut down.
Take some time to process what they’ve just suggested and truly see whether their feedback holds some truth.
5. Comparison, Self Doubt, And Fear
It’s human nature to compare ourselves with others all the time, that’s the case in programming as well.
Some devs are good at picking up the concept very easily.
Some devs take time but slow learning is completely ok.
Ask yourself…
- What can I do to become a better programmer?
- What are the areas I should improve on?
Identify your strength be thankful for it.
Identify your weakness and work on that by taking help from others.
6. Laziness in Doing Practice
There is no point to read thousand of lines of code if you don’t get your hands dirty.
Practicing actual code should never be neglected in programming.
Programming is a skill acquired by practice and example rather than from books.
-Alan Turing
7. Rushing into a job
Too many young devs prioritize the notion of getting a job above anything else in the job-hunting process.
While it’s important to start getting a paycheck so you can afford living expenses.
It’s not a good idea to rush into the first job you’re offered.
In the end,
You’re not expected to be a perfect employee and teammate.
But having the ability to understand your flaws and learn from your mistakes will improve your job performance and set you on the road to success.
Thanks for reading.
If you like this you might be you are interested in my eBook as well.
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Top comments (14)
Jumping from one language to the other without deep knowledge on how to apply it.
Same person learn Go Lang, JavaScript, Rust, Tom and Jerry, Johnny Bravo....
Don't expose me like that😭
hahaha...i feel attacked too
I guess that's the right age to try out different languages/technologies and find out which language/technology they are most comfortable with.
also agree. You can master anything later. But most importantly trying things out helps.
One of the biggest issue we all face sometime
It's crazy how much the first job can influence a the career of a developers. A nice company can make turn a "not-so-good" developer into an excellent professional, and at the same time we've seen so many "high-potential" junior devs being burned at sunken into toxic projects for a great part of the beginning of their career, which some never recover from. It's almost criminal.
The difficulty is that sometimes it's not so obvious that a workplace is toxic during the interview. Additionally, I would argue that it takes some experience of what you don't like in order to have a better picture of what works for you. As a junior dev, you're a blank slate. Sometimes you get a gut feeling to avoid a place -- always listen to your gut. Other times, it's not so cut and dry and you need to experience something before whether deciding it's what you want or not.
Even bad experiences can lead to learning and growth.
That's why don't rush into your Job, Build the skills & progress...
My 2¢: software development is a collaborative effort (except in the very rare case of a maverick developing the next smash hit all by their lonesome). The social aspects of being in a team, and working together, and speaking up when you need help, and offering help when someone else is struggling is paramount.
Can you please explain the #8 a little bit more?
Specifically the point
Hey do u know how to change screens using list items in the list view on KIvy MD
What happened to 7?
Thank you for the catch 😎, Numbers updated